This is a quick update for my blog followers (or any other interested visitors) who are accustomed to seeing more frequent posts from me. The posts will be a little less frequent for a few months. I am at work on getting The Sultan and the Khanready for publication. This is the sequel to my award-winning novel The Swords of Faith. The Sultan and the Khan will also be published by Strider Nolan Media (the folks who brought you The Swords of Faith). I’m also at work on the third novel of his trilogy, The Ghosts of Baghdad, set around the time of the Fourteenth Century “Black Death.”

I am also recording tracks for my CD “The Richard Warren Field Songbook.”

But this blog will not be without posts! Coming up during the first part of May will be my final post on the nature of music, concluding a series of posts that turned out to be a lot longer and more involved than I thought it would be. And, in mid-May, I will post a Books-Into-Movies on “The Great Gatsby”—I’ll compare the book to the new movie release and to the Robert Redford movie of 1974.

Books-Into-Movies posts will continue—they are among the most popular pages here. There are two coming up in January—on “Anna Karenina” and on “Lincoln.” I will pick and choose these as they strike me. They may pertain to upcoming movies (and television miniseries), or to past classic movies. They will usually have a historical aspect to them.

I will be posting commentaries about books written by authors I know. This will expose my readers to books they may not have heard of anywhere else, but may very well enjoy.

I will be producing one, maybe two CDs in 2013. This will lead to posts about music (in addition to my concluding posts on the nature of music).

Beyond that, there is always the unexpected. Anyone who has been with me over the last the 2½ years of this blog will attest to that!

I hope everyone has a happy and productive new year and enjoys what I have to offer here, and through other creative outlets.

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “West Meets East”: This was the seventh and last of Set Three, the last, the 23rd overall of the Issa pieces recorded between 1988 and 1990. This was a great way to culminate what I had been working on with these pieces. We have a ton of “classical” influences here, along with the jazz/Eastern instrumental component. I start off with a simple rhythmic statement, something akin to the beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Yes, the ability of the equipment to pitch those tympani drums, and thunder them through the opening statement was a great option to have. I then wound that out into a full-blown classical development section with counter melodies springing out of the original theme and moving around each other through shifting harmonies. The thundering two-measure rhythm of the opening now becomes the soft underpinning of the development section, always there, if well into the background. That short development section comes back to the original statement. This is then followed by an Eastern development section, over the same harmonic structure as the Western “classical” development section, but with improvised lines of exotic woodwinds over pitched drums and syncopated rhythms. The woodwind lines are doubled with strings, bringing a little bit of that “West” into this “East” section. This shifts through timbres and harmonic progressions until we return to the opening statement a third time. After the third statement of the opening theme, there is a short development section that blends the first “Western” “classical” section with the second “Eastern” “improvisational” section. We then finish with a final statement of the main theme, topped off with a thin repeat before concluding. For most of the Issa pieces, I blended jazz and a little pop and rock, with Eastern instruments and modes. I hinted at “classical” style development but only hinted. With “West meets East,” I brought “classical music” elements into the music as a full partner. I was very pleased with the result. I’m not saying every new Issa piece will partner “classical music” techniques with jazz and Eastern as much as “West meets East.” But I will look to do more of this. I’ve begun collecting themes for future pieces.

I have well over enough themes for at least two or three more Issa CDs. I will try to build on “West Meets East,” and the other 22 pieces I produced just over 20 years ago.

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “East Meets West”: This was the ninth and final “Issa Music” piece of the first set, completed in late 1988. The title explains what I was trying to do here—to depict a contrast musically, a collision as “East Meets West.” “West” is first—a powerful brute force wall of sound starts it off. Exploding gongs, a big pipe organ, joined by a choir, arpeggiating strings and eventually synth brasses, state these block chords that form a simple melodic line, fanfares eventually sounding above. It sounds like triumph, like overpowering triumph and strength. This is followed by the “East” answer. It’s the same chord progression, even the same melodies, now stated over an unassuming rhythm, less assertive, more complex, more subtle. A strange trumpet line joins the second half of this section as if trying to fit into the “East” idea, but not totally comfortable. Section One is restated a second time, just to remind us of that brute power again. But we end with the “East” statement of the same harmonic idea, as if it will outlast the big power theme of “West.” But the exploding gong at the end asks us—will it?

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Voice in the Wilderness”: Here is the first of Set Two of the “Issa Music” pieces recorded, the tenth Issa piece over all. This piece was created with a similar concept to the very first piece, “Mystic Jam.” We have a motif strung out in improvisations over a simple tonal backdrop, in a Dorian mode (basically a minor key but with the major sixth and flat seventh of the scale). For this piece, I had a specific visual in mind inspiring me. “Voice in the Wilderness” concerns the Christian biblical reference to John the Baptist. “Wilderness” refers to an uncivilized area where few humans live. It is a place suited to singular meditation and contemplation. I had an image of hermit-like holy men sitting on top of high brown column-like fomations, raised up, overlooking an arid terrain, looking out from their lonely perches. They all have different flutes, and they play the piece’s motif back and forth to each other, as if exchanging their lone spiritual/mystical visions through the motifs. The piece migrates through various textures, some thin, then building to thickness. Different ideas come and go, but always moving back to that original motif. One of my favorite “Issa Music” moments comes between the third and fourth minutes. The background builds, with percussion, choir sounds, adding to thicken the sonic texture. Then, as if crying out for attention, a lone pure synth sound breaks over the top, as if it is the “Voice in the Wilderness,” begging for listeners to consider what it has to say. Originally I chose fourteen pieces for the “Issa Music” CD. This was not one of the original pieces. But whenever I thought of this music, I thought of that moment, that cry from the mystical/spiritual wilderness, and I knew this piece was the epitome of “Issa Music.” I had to include it, and make a painful choice to cut two others to make room. This piece captures that feeling of believing you have something meaningful to say, something that could be truly helpful to people, and you cry out for your words, your ideas, to be heard and considered. It operates at a gut level, with very simple musical ideas spun out to create the effect.

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Eastern Boogie”: This piece, the fourth Issa piece created in Set One, took the “Issa Music” concept into a new direction. I felt I wasn’t getting enough “East” into my East-West fusion concept. So I went exotic modal, using a scale with some augmented seconds in it, and with the flat second of the scale, but keeping the major third. I came up with an exotic little ditty that seemed to work well. The bass line fit nicely under it, a bass line that allowed a lot of room for improvisation. The A section seemed to lead logically to the B section, which was derived as a sort of harmonic mirror image of the A section. The bass line for the section starts away from the tonality but slides back into it. The melodic part of the section seemed to grow right out of it. So I simply introduced the A and B sections, then improvised over the bass lines to those sections, running up and down and in an out of those modes. I used the technology to vary the timbres, instruments and textures of the backing tracks and leads. Now I had a pattern I could follow throughout the project—opening sections introducing a theme/mode/harmonic setup, followed by improvisation with exotic instrumental combinations utilized to develop the musical ideas.

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Prism of the Soul”: This was the fifth of Set Three, 21st of the Issa pieces. Very much like “Pace by Pace,” I start with a short riff and with a melody that interplays with the riff, almost in an opposite contour, effectively creating a whole from two contrasting parts. For this piece, I delved more and more into set instrumental choirs and timbre changes, like moving from a brass choir into a shakuhashi solo over non-Western instrument sounds (accept for an acoustic string bass sound), then moving right out of that into a funky fusion beat laying the background for a synth-brass/flute solo. The idea here is a prism, shifting in the light, giving off different reflections, different visual results off the same object. The soul is a very complex concept and this piece is intended to capture that idea musically. Here we have different musical results stemming from the same musical idea. In my next Issa pieces, I will look for more opportunities to juxtapose completely different musical settings playing the same basic music, as I did with “Prism of the Soul.”

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Seventh Hell”: In the fifth Issa piece of Set Two, fourteenth overall, I made optimal use of the programming capabilities of the MIDI and Roland Mesa software to create a rollicking background for a wild theme in 7/8, and a B section in 3½/4. For the A section, I programmed a complex bass/TX module drum ostinato. Over it, I placed a deliberately disturbing, disjointed melody line. The B section is a twisted waltz, still with a seven feel, but in a more graspable 3½/4 than the 7/8. But the twisted waltz is not intended to instill peace and tranquility. It has a mocking quality, as if the devil is welcoming the listener to “Seventh Hell,” saying “Welcome to my world. What did you do or fail to do to deserve to be here?” The piece ends with the juxtaposition of the 7/8 and the 3½/4, climaxing with huge blows of disturbing cluster chords, pounding through rising lines that seem to rise up just to get sucked back into those big chords. That section took a long time to get just right. It may sound disjointed and unsettling, but it is my experience that disjointed and unsettling are harder to get just right than easy flowing fours and eights.

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Darkness to Dawn”: This is the fourth piece of Set Two of the “Issa Music” pieces, the thirteenth piece overall. After the emotional peaks and valleys of “Voice in the Wilderness,” the cerebral complexity of “Chasing Shadows,” and the thundering funky quality of “Skeptic,” I set out to create something quieter, mellower, simpler, more contemplative. I set up a chord progression with some nice shifts and a simple, motivic, cell-like melody. The music moves through a minor key, migrating to major chords at cadence points (to capture the “Darkness to Dawn” feel). In the process of improvising over the various sections and changes of mood that wind out through the piece, I had my second “in the zone” experience. (See “River of Flow.”) Again, I felt like something else was involved with my playing—I barely recalled playing the passage and had to hear it back to become aware of what I had done. This is the D50 shakuhashi solo from 2:20 to 4: 05. I was very pleased with this piece, a simple piece with interesting chord changes and the characteristic changes in texture and timbre emblematic of “Issa Music.”

(“Issa Music” is an East-meets-West mystic jazz CD released inspired by the “Legend of Issa.” Did Jesus journey to India and study Buddhism and Hinduism before his world-changing spiritual mission in Roman-occupied Judea? If so, are West and East spiritually connected in ways we have never imagined? “Issa Music” celebrates this idea with a blend of eastern and western modes and timbres.)

Background on “Temptation”: This was the third piece from Set Three, nineteenth overall of the Issa pieces. When I thought about having these recordings converted from analog tape to digital, this is one of the pieces I thought about the most, that I really wanted to become acquainted with again. I used that strange mode/scale again, strange to Western ears, with a ♭2 and major third, among other little quirks (see “Eastern Boogie,” Set One #4). I slipped down to the vi chord for the B section, which allowed for some adventurous melodic invention and improvising, playing with blues scales and surprising common tones to bring a strange unity to this quirky piece. And “Temptation”—the exotic nature of the piece was intended to match musically the idea of “temptation.” My intention with this piece was to call up a wide concept of “temptation.” Sure, we think of temptations of pleasure; sex, overindulgence in food and drink, tempted to do wrong for riches. But for me, the idea goes even further. My biggest temptation is anger. I suspect many people get caught up in that same temptation—quick to anger, quick to fall into lashing out when a more patient behavior could bring a more successful outcome, and a more satisfying inner feeling. Add other temptations—self-pity, impatience, pride at the expense of love, even worry—this piece summons all of these temptations musically. Through the piece, I moved in and out of utterly electronic settings to settings with more conventional sounds. At times, the solos scream. But there are also sections like the flute solo, and the flute coupled with a low synth, weaving in a serpentine flow, as if calling forth that lust for pleasure. And there is the trumpet, blaring above the fray, as if too proud to blend. The string ensemble seems to scold the trumpet, and a synth solo laments the dilemmas temptation brings before we return to the main theme. Yes, this is one of my favorites of these pieces. When I find myself angered, or impatient, I summon this music into my head, and try to bring temptation under control.